All's Fair in Love
by MidnightApproaches
Summary: Set a month after Fear is the Enemy, Kirsash isn't feeling so well. Something is lurking in the darkness, threatening to upset the balance. Veron and Kirsash reappear in this story filled with action, adventure, and lots of sass. Continuation of Fear is the Enemy.
1. Chapter 1

It had been a month since the Enterprise had concluded their trade agreements with the Corinthians. Many of the crew had been suspicious of them due to their terrifying appearance, but over time, the crew had come to enjoy their calming and inquisitives presences within their minds. They had left Corinth 5 to continue exploring and had found themselves in a sector of space that was unknown to them. Much to Kirsash's chagrin, however, it was a section of space that was all too familiar, but she made no mention of it to the rest of the crew for fear that they would want to contact... other species.

Many of the crew found that this area of space was very calm, which was a nice break from the incredibly busy weeks they had gone through prior, but now meant that they were bored and started to find interest in rumors. It was a well known fact that rumors would be kept in check during stressful times, but since the crew had nothing else to do, they had found entertainment in learning the new stories of each other.

This explained why Scotty was walking with a murderous look in his eyes toward the medbay. The crew were smart enough to get out of his way and those who had not heard the latest rumors were left confused by his actions. Scotty burst into the medbay and found the source of his anger, making a beeline for McCoy.

"Whae in God's name am Ah supposedly datin' you?" He shouted right into McCoy's face.

McCoy looked taken aback by the breach of personal space, but Scotty's words started to sink in and confusion took its place. "Say what now?"

Scotty sighed impatiently, "Ah have just been congratulated by multiple people on mae new "relationship" with you. How the hell did this happen?"

"How the hell should I know?!" McCoy shouted back. They glared at each other for a few minutes and then, with realization hitting them like a bolt of lightning, both simultaneously turned to glare at Veron, who had been perched on one of the tables silently watching the entire yelling match. She was off her shift and had decided to pass the time in the medbay.

Upon receiving the two murderous glares from the older men, Veron simply raised her arms and shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head in the classic I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about gesture. She innocently said, "Don't look at me; I didn't do anything."

"Like hell you dinae!" Scotty shouted.

"Not on purpose anyway," she added.

"What do you mean 'not on purpose'?" McCoy seethed.

"Ah know wha' it is!" Scotty raged. "It's because you call us 'Mom' and 'Dad' all the time!"

"Oh, is that all? Well, good luck then, Mom." Veron said as she walked out of the medbay. Scotty called her to try to make her stay, but she ignored him and kept walking down the hall.

"You dinae stop her!" Scotty rounded on McCoy since he no longer had Veron to yell at.

McCoy raised one eyebrow, giving a very good impression of Spock. "She wouldn't have stayed even if I tried. She's stubborn as an ox and far stronger than one. It would be like trying to stop a tsunami with a child's bucket."

Scotty felt himself getting frustrated with all his metaphors and had a desperate need to throttle someone, preferably the doctor. "Wha' are we gunna do?"

A cool humorless voice added from the entrance of the medbay, "My suggestion, if the rumors are baseless, is to act as if everything is normal and announce that this "rumor" is pure fable." Scotty turned immediately to find Spock standing at the entrance to the medical bay, with his hands behind his back as usual. McCoy just groaned at the sight of him.

"Thanks Spock, but I think I'd rather ask your girlfriend for advice." McCoy quipped back. He didn't want that pointy-eared bastard to become part of an even bigger mess and had hoped that mentioning the communications specialist would have made him stop talking. It didn't.

"Ms. Uhura is on the bridge at the moment, so is unable to come and give you advice. In any case, the advice that I have given you comes directly from her. As a Communications officer, I am sure she is best suited to dealing with situations such as these. For her part, she has been dispelling the rumor as much as she can." Spock explained in such a monotone voice that unless you knew the Vulcan well, would have sounded like he was bored; but McCoy knew better and saw that he was actually rather enjoying all of this.

'Damn pointy-eared bastard.' McCoy thought. He hated when Spock was being smug. McCoy could swear that Spock was almost smiling when he gave his next two cents.

"It wouldn't hurt if you found yourself a partner other than Scotty if you wish to disprove this rumor." With that said, Spock made a slight bow and left the medbay. Scotty was right behind him, yelling that he was perfectly able to find a partner if he wanted to and that he was absolutely not dating McCoy. McCoy could hear him all the way down the hall until he entered the lift.

McCoy couldn't help but think a little more deeply about what Spock had said. It's true that he had been alone for some time; not by his own volition, but he had been so caught up with work, it simply hadn't been on his mind. It didn't mean that he hadn't found any of the crew attractive. Carol Marcus, who had been of great help during the fiasco with Khan, had seemed at least mildly interested. And there was always... but he couldn't think of it seriously. She was much too young for him and probably not interested.

Maybe this situation was the incentive he needed to talk to a certain younger blond woman.

* * *

Veron wandered around the halls, for lack of anything else to do. She had already tried to go bother Kirsash, but her room had been locked. Veron knew better now than to wake the Felixian after the last eight times she had tried, which had finally ended with Kirsash almost ripping her optical lenses apart. She wanted it to be the afternoon already so that she could finally get her upgrades; she had been waiting for a ridiculously long month and a half.

Just as she was thinking about this, she turned the corner and ran into Kirk. Although she was a good nine inches shorter than him, Kirk still found himself on the floor from the impact.

"Oh, hi Captain. I didn't see you."

"Obviously," he grumbled, picking himself up off the floor. "Have you seen Scotty? He was supposed to give me a report on the status of the warp core."

"Mom? He went to go see Dad."

Kirk stood there for a few moments trying to understand what Veron had said as she passed him and began to wander the corridors once more to pass the time. Kirk turned suddenly and asked her retreating figure, "Excuse me, what?"

"Mom went to see Dad. Mom and Dad. Scotty and McCoy. Duh!" She emphasised slowly, as if speaking to a child. Once that was explained, Veron left a very confused Captain in the middle of the hallway.

He took a few steps forward until the realization seemed to smack him upside the head with a baseball bat. Grinning wickedly, he increased his pace and set forth for the weapons bay, needing to have a little talk with their chief engineer.


	2. Chapter 2

Kirsash awoke with a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was as if she had eaten a few live snakes and they had just decided to take up tap dancing as a hobby. Kirsash shook her head at the thought; she was spending far too much time with Dr. McCoy; she was starting to pick up his odd taste in metaphors. The thought of spending more time with him made her stomach feel funny again and she rose to take a cold shower, hoping that doing so would ease some of her more ludicrous thoughts.

Once out of the shower, she no longer felt so odd in her stomach but her head had started to hurt. It was a very mild, dull pain, so she did not believe it was necessary to take any medication for it. After shaking off the excess water from her tail, she dressed quickly and left to go to the archive room. She had research to do on her species, with whatever little amount of information they had. They were near Felixian Territory, but Kirsash had not given this little piece of information to the Captain. It would open a can of worms that she did not want to begin to think about. But her curiosity had gotten the better of her and as a diplomat, she wanted to see how relations between the two species had evolved while she had been on Vigo.

As she walked down the hallway, she noticed that a few of the men turned to stare at her. One of them was staring at her for so long that she heard him run into something once she was past him. Feeling a little wary of the men, she felt the instinct to run.

Kirsash increased her speed until she was in the archive room. She took a breath and ran her hands against the PADDs that held so much information. She missed the beautiful parchment that held all of her people's history and traditions on her home planet, but had to agree that the PADDs were far less cumbersome. After having selected the only three PADDs that might have the information she needed, she decided to go to the mess hall and grab a quick breakfast.

When she left the archives, she was again stared at by many of the male crew members as she walked down the hall. It wasn't insulting or mocking, but she still felt nervous. She didn't know why she was getting so much attention and she didn't really like it. When she walked in the mess hall, the beta shift were calmly eating their breakfasts and conversed with each other. Yet, every time she walked passed a table, it suddenly became silent and she could feel their eyes watching and following her. The hair on the back of her neck rose and she again wanted to run away.

She heard her comm. beep and immediately grabbed it, shifting the PADDs to her left arm. "Finally, you're awake!" Her friend's annoyed voice was a relief to her nerves. It was one of the rare times that she was glad that Veron had decided to bug her.

"Yes, sorry. I hadn't realized that I had slept in." Kirsash heard loud talking, almost yelling in the background of the comm. "Where are you?"

"In the weapons bay. I was going to see Carol about some upgrades but I think I came at a bad time. Captain Kirk and Dad look like they are about to start fighting each other."

"They what?! I'll be right there." Kirsash forgot completely about the strange situation in the mess hall and about breakfast; instead she ran to the nearest lift, clutching the PADDs in both arms. She waited impatiently for it to arrive and then bring her to the weapons bay level. Part of her job as the head of Diplomatic Relations was to preside over any conflicts so that they could be solved without any violence. She knew McCoy and Captain Kirk didn't always get along, but she didn't think they would start fighting. Unless it was something serious.

She ran as fast as she could through the corridors while still maintaining decorum and not dropping the PADDs. When she arrived in the weapons bay, she thought that maybe it would have been a better idea to have simply stayed in her bed that morning. Along the walls, many of the engineers were watching - a few were even making bets on who they thought would win. In the middle of the room stood McCoy and Kirk, glaring at each other. Carol Marcus was two feet away from them and she was trying to calm the two men down, but it didn't seem to be affecting either of them. Kirk was simply smirking up at McCoy while the usually gruff but pleasant doctor looked downright murderous. She felt a presence beside her and turned to see Veron, who seemed to be enjoying the situation.

"Do you see the metaphorical lighting? I see it! It's everywhere! I mean, dang, I think it arcs farther than mine does," She whistled in appreciation.

Kirsash was torn between amusement at her friend's odd sense of humor and incredulousness at her reaction. She needed to get the situation under control.

"How come you aren't stopping them?" She asked.

"It's true that I am technically considered to be a defense mechanism of the ship, therefore I am supposed to keep the crew from harm, but hey," she shrugged, "there's no blood and no one's dying so I see no harm to be found. I'm not their psychiatrist so I don't have to worry about their mental states. But you could take that job if you want."

Kirsash expelled a long suffering sigh and moved forward after handing her PADDs to her friend. She knew she had to stop them from fighting but she didn't want to be involved. Males of any species fighting were usually very dangerous to those around them and she had seen enough territorial fights to know that one should run away instead of intervene. She reached the middle of the room and very slowly tried to push the two taller men apart.

When she touched them, they finally broke their starring and instead focused on her. Both of their looks were savage, almost… hungry. Instinct told her to take her hands away from them and hide in a corner like a kitten until it blew over, but she simply followed her first instinct and walked back slowly, placing her hands at her sides and taking a neutral position. She took up her most patient and diplomatic voice.

"What seems to be the problem?"

The room went silent as the crew wanted to learn what this had all been about. McCoy went back to glaring at Kirk, but Kirk's attention seemed to be solely focused on Kirsash. She didn't like that.

"It's nothing." McCoy said slowly through clenched teeth.

Kirsash knew he was lying quite literally through his teeth so pressed her questions. "Can I do anything to help?"

Kirk's eyebrows suddenly shot up and his face changed into a wicked grin, mentioning suggestively, "Well, I could think of a few things..."

McCoy's glare sharpened. "Don't even think about it," he hissed quietly, so that the surrounding crew couldn't hear, but Kirsash could hear it very well. To say that she was confused would have been an understatement. She couldn't understand why he was being so possessive over her.

Veron had long since seated herself on a side table, leaning in excitedly as her heightened senses picked up every detail. "Hey!" She called over to one of the researchers, breaking the silence. "Bring me some popcorn! This is getting good!"

Both Kirsash and McCoy turned their heads to glare at Veron. Kirsash readied herself to tell her friend off but McCoy beat her to it.

"Don't you dare!" McCoy shouted at her. Kirsash's ears pulled back at the force of his voice and thought that she would need to remind him later that shouting was detrimental to her hearing. Her head swam at the volume of his voice and she swayed a bit as her headache suddenly increased by tenfold. McCoy grabbed her arm to steady her but released her a second later as though he had been burned by touching her.

"Y...you don't look so hot," he stuttered, looking at his hand and then at Kirsash, first in confusion and then in concern.

"Well I think she looks-" Kirk tried to add more flirting commentary in but was cut off.

"Quiet, Jim. Are you feeling okay?" The doctor asked, directing his question at the Felixian. He had reverted to his Doctor mode, worrying about anything that could be wrong with his crew.

Kirsash was never one to admit a weakness and began to deny it when a wave of pain pounded so strongly that she grabbed her head in hopes of relieving the pressure. She did everything she could not to curl into a ball to hide from the pain.

"Alright, that's it; you're coming with me. Veron," he addressed the suddenly attentive android. "Take her to the med bay - and I don't think she should be walking right now."

"I got it," Veron said, lifting Kirsash in her arms. Normally, she would have protested, but the pain seemed to have wiped most of her energy from her. McCoy left with Veron following. As they reached the threshold of the weapons bay, he suddenly turned.

"Watch the doors this time," he added.

"What? Doors?" Kirsash mumbled through the pain.

"Don't worry! I have it down this time!" Veron said, far too jovially for Kirsash's tastes. She knew she should be suspicious, but another wave of pain hit her and a small mewl escaped her lips. She would dwell on it later.


	3. Chapter 3

Kirsash lay on one of the biobeds, desperate for one of the PADDs from the archive so that she could alleviate the boredom while McCoy was looking for a possible cause for her headache. Veron had left them in the weapons bay when she had carried Kirsash and had promised to bring them back, but that had been twenty minutes ago. Getting tired of lying down, Kirsash silently got up from the biobed and stood. The doctor had given her pain relievers and it had taken effect almost instantly. The headache as back to the same level of pain that she had woken up with, but at least it didn't feel like her head was splitting in two.

When she stood, she looked to McCoy to see if he had noticed her movement, but his back was still turned to her. He was stooping slightly so that he could be at eye-level with the screen of the research engine. She hadn't noticed how muscular he was before but she took in the detail ravenously. It was obvious, if subtle, that he was very strong and could protect those around him when need be. He was also very argumentative, sticking up for those that he cared about. I would want him to do some arguing with me in bed, if you know what I mean. Kirsash reeled back from her thoughts, wondering where it came from. She refused to let herself fall for a man, especially the doctor. She simply could not get involved too deeply with the crew; it could bring disaster in the future. This did not stop her from gazing at his working form, suppressing the tiny voice at the back of her head the whole time.

It was at this point that Veron came back to the medical bay. When she entered, she took in the scene with interest, allowing her face to slide into a sly, calculating mask. She had seen hints that her alien friend had some interest in her "Dad", but they had never been as obvious as this. She quietly moved to stand behind Kirsash and whispered conspiratorially, "Like what you see?"

Kirsash gave a start and pulled away from the younger officer who seemed to have popped out of nowhere. "N...no! Shut up!" She stuttered, embarrassed that it had to be Veron of all people to catch her ogling McCoy. She felt all of her fur rise, making her look more intimidating.

But instead of taking the hint and leaving Kirsash alone, Veron got closer to her and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "You know that's my Dad, right?" She almost purred in the Felixian's ear. She was enjoying this way too much.

Kirsash stepped back and bristled some more. "I was not-"

Veron cut her off, smugly. "You so totally were."

McCoy must have finally noticed the distress in Kirsash's demeanor and warned without turning around, "V'ron, stop bothering my patient."

"You weren't even listening," she accused, sticking out her tongue childishly in his direction.

"Put that back in your mouth young lady or I will have it glued to the ceiling," McCoy threatened with such a bland voice, it sounded more like a friendly reminder than a promise of pain.

Veron spluttered in shock, turning back to her friend. "How the hell did he know? It's like he has a freaking pair of eyes in the back of his head! I thought only Moms do that - the roles are reversed!"

McCoy was the one to reply, "You're too obvious, squirt. Now, leave Kirsash alone or I will kick you out."

Veron rolled her eyes, but gave Kirsash the PADD that she had been asked to get over a half-hour ago and sat down on the nearest bio bed, giving her friend suggestive looks and even going as far as to make kissy faces once or twice. Kirsash didn't know if she wanted to throttle her friend into next month or hurl the PADD hard enough to lodge itself right into her dense, duranium skull, so instead settled on ignoring her existence completely. She willed herself to relax so that her fur would go back to normal. Once she accomplished that, she sat on the edge of the biobed and started focusing on her PADD, reading about the little information that Starfleet seemed to have on Felixians. Well, until helmsman Sulu entered the medbay.

For a reason that Kirsash wasn't fully able to understand, she found her gaze magnetize to the man who shared her age. He was handsome, for a Terran. Dressed in clothes that he must have been working out in, as she could see his muscles barely concealed by the cloth, he entered the medbay with the poise of a fighter. If all his bragging on his fencing skills were accurate, then he was expected to be a strong but lithe man. Kirsash almost purred at the thought, which her more logical half found disgusting if not plain ridiculous.

That same logical side found that things were steadily getting worse when she felt herself getting up from the biobed and, without any thought about what she was doing, went over to Sulu.

Sulu had only come to the medbay for a scratch that he had gotten downstairs while sparring with one of the younger ensigns. It had been nothing serious, but he didn't want a scar, so he had decided to come to the medbay and ask McCoy to use a derma-repair kit on his skin. The med bay was occupied by a total of three other people, plus the nurses, whom all seemed busy. His eyes locked automatically with Veron's startled violet ones, and he simply nodded curtly. That must have not been the reaction she was expecting because the arm she was leaning on slipped off the biobed and she ended up sprawled out on the floor.

"I'll get you a new sword, I swear!" she exclaimed before falling silent, interest peaked at Kirsash's movement. The android blinked owlishly. That look in the Felixian's eye... wasn't that the same one she was directing at the doctor mere minutes ago? She couldn't be sure; she was dense enough with this stuff as it was - even when she had been fully human. This was certainly interesting if it was what she thought. She tuned into the conversation, noting with equal interest that her outburst had caught McCoy's attention and he too seemed to be trying to eavesdrop.

"Haven't seen you around in a bit, Sulu. Busy?" Kirsash seemed to lean closer to Sulu and surreptitiously took in his scent. Mostly sweat but also Starfleet regulation soap; so she had been right in thinking that he had been in the gym.

Sulu found himself smiling at her in what could only be called a flirtatious manner, "Busy? Nah, never too busy for you."

Kirsash smiled playfully and slowly reached forward to touch Sulu's forearm. The part of her brain that was still thinking logically was dying of embarrassment over what she was doing, but she seemed to no longer have control of what she said or did.

"Well, at least you have been using your time wisely." Kirsash said appreciatively as she felt his muscles underneath his t-shirt. He really was as muscular as she had observed.

"I could always show you how wise I've been." Sulu replied in deeper tones that she knew were only meant for her to hear, so was annoyed to hear a snigger behind her. She turned to see who had been eavesdropping only to feel all of her blood draining from her head.

Veron was still on her spot on the floor, and she had jammed a fist into her mouth to keep from laughing outright. She trembled under the force of the control she was attempting to maintain over herself. What didn't help matters was that the smooth Southern twang of Dr. McCoy sounded from behind Veron, signaling that he too had seen the whole thing and had come to intervene for whatever reason.

"Was there something you needed, Mr. Sulu?" McCoy said mid-manneredly but his eyes didn't disguise the underlying anger that neither Kirsash, Veron or Sulu understood.

Veron lost it there and, with all the grace of a drunken cow, leapt up and dashed out of the room, into the corridor, banging into multiple pieces of equipment along the way. Her resounding howls of laughter could still be heard long after she had disappeared from sight. It seems she had all the subtlety of a drunken cow as well.

Kirsash's more logical half finally took control and she was filled with overwhelming embarrassment at what she had just done. Unable to look at McCoy, she quietly excused herself and left the medical bay, only after she had grabbed her PADDs in a hurry. She knew that at that moment, she did not want to be anywhere near the doctor.

If either of the two men noticed the intoxicating smell that she left behind her, neither of them made mention of it as McCoy went to get the equipment to heal the helmsman, although he was sure to do it as painfully as possible.

* * *

Veron was still stumbling through the ship's corridors nearly twenty minutes after the horrendous flirting incident in the med bay. If she hadn't been an android, she'd certainly be wiping tears from her cheeks. That had to be one of the funniest things she'd ever seen in either of her lives. When she finally took notice of her surroundings, she was greeted with a most peculiar sight: Chekov and Kirsash seemed to be conversing secretly about something. She paused, her grin from the earlier incident freezing in place, and debated whether or not to approach them. She had already faced Sulu, but she wasn't sure if she was ready for Chekov yet. She hadn't wanted to see any of the bridge officers, especially after her disastrous method of trying to hold order during the hormone induced panic attack a month earlier.

Then she noticed that they were standing almost scandalously close together, with Chekov backed against a wall. When Chekov saw Veron, his eyes seemed to double in size and although he was against the wall, he seemed to be trying to move back. Veron's double optic lenses allowed her to zoom in like having a pair of built-in binoculars. She zoomed in and noticed a small blush on Chekov's face. Wait. Were they... Flirting? Alone in the corridor? With no witnesses?

An instinct that Veron didn't know she had activated and overrode any other course of action she would have taken. Her eyes narrowed and shifted to a glaring green. Lip curling, she strode up to the pair, startling them both. She ripped Chekov away from Kirsash and thrust him into the opposite wall, shoving her face so near to his, she all but slammed her forehead against his own. His blue eyes were wide and terrified. Kirsash was shocked by Veron's aggressive display and she wanted to help Chekov, but the obvious possessiveness Veron was showing would divert any competitor with a functioning brain.

"Veron? Oh God, it's not what you think; there's something wrong with me and I can't control it and it's affecting almost everyone else-" Kirsash was babbling in the background. Veron ignored her, her free hand curling in an automatic display of anger. Green electricity was arcing between her fingertips since her combat settings were on. "DO NOT TASE HIM, Veron. Are you listening to me?"

Veron seemed to hesitate, turning her head slightly and giving an annoyed glare at her older friend. She turned and stormed off, dragging Chekov with her by the elbow.

"V-vai-"

"Shut up," she growled. It seemed she needed to go lay down a few rules with the navigation officer.


	4. Chapter 4

"So," Veron began calmly. "Care to explain what that was about?" She had dragged poor Chekov to her 'lair' in the depths of Engineering and was currently standing with her arms crossed, chin up, icy glare trained on the sitting ensign; she had forced him into Scotty's very uncomfortable engineer chair. It would have been amusing to Chekov, especially since she was a full head shorter that he was, however he had had his share of her lectures during his days at the academy and he knew that this time, whatever she had interpreted the situation to have been, she was royally pissed off.

With this in mind, Chekov began his story, hoping to verbally redirect her from incinerating the entire ship in her wrath. "I was on my way back to the bridge when I was approached by Ms. Solaris," he stammered. He shook his head, still in bewilderment at the diplomat's blatant disregard for personal space.

"And? What did she say?" Veron demanded, looking nonplussed at his zoning out.

"I-I don't know!" He exclaimed quickly. "I saw you coming down the corridor and started panicking; I don't know what came over me."

That caused one corner of Veron's mouth to twitch, and hope swelled in Chekov's chest. That was a telltale sign that she wasn't as mad as she was trying to make it seem. Maybe there was an easy way out of this.

"She's been acting funny recently," the blunette muttered, more to herself than Chekov.

He responded anyway. "Yes, I noticed, but I'm not entirely sure vhat's causing it." Her eyes flashed towards him and he tensed up again. Had he overstepped his boundaries on that one?

"You didn't do anything to instigate it, did you?" she asked slowly, dangerously.

"Of course not!"

She hummed and lost herself in thought once more. Chekov was allowed a rare moment to study her. Back at the academy, although two or three years younger than himself, she'd had a certain demanding quality that made her stand out. He still remembered the day she had all but stormed up to him and ordered his assistance in a calculus-based physics course. She'd basically shadowed him from then on, which he hadn't minded. He learned to pinpoint the cracks in her professional mask and was rewarded with the snarky, blunt and brutally honest girl that hid behind it. She had a strange intimidating quality for all of her 5'3" of height that kept his older classmates from hazing him and he was able to graduate in peace. That girl still stood before him, although physically altered almost beyond recognition. Somewhere along the way, he had become used to acting the part of the frightened one in the face of her anger - though now, he knew at last, that she could reel it in if she so chose. Yet, at this point, he knew her well enough to be able to see that she was merely...

"Jealous?" he whispered.

Her head snapped around. "What?" she gasped.

Crap, he hadn't meant for her to hear that at all. "I said nothing!" he yelped reflexively, trying in vain to climb out of the bigger hole he had just dug for himself.

"Pasha," she growled dangerously.

"Vhat is vith you and these nicknames? You call me 'Pasha' and then Mr. Scott is 'Mom' and Dr. McCoy is 'Dad' and now I can understand vhy but-"

"Oh, you heard about that then? Wait, no! Stop trying to change the subject!" she snapped. "And for the record, I've always called you Pasha."

"True," he acknowledged to all of her claims. "But there's no need for jealousy."

She scowled darkly. "I wasnt-"

"Newermind it." He interrupted. His butchering of a 'v' sound made her lips twitch into a small smile; it was something that was uniquely his. "You'll alvays be one of my most dear friends, Nika." He smiled and mussed up her hair slightly in a rare show of affection that brought both of them back to the days at the academy; although, she had to redo her hair clip from the treatment - she made quite the show of glowering at him while she was working.

"Ya tozhe, ya tozhe," she muttered in Russian, waving him off. "You and your sentimentality, I swear..."

There were a few moments of awkward silence where Veron found herself suddenly interested in the floor. The full force of facing him again with him knowing that she was an android was hitting her, smothering her under the weight of emotions she would have rather turned off if she could. Could she? She had to ask Scotty about that.

She felt her chin being gently tilted up. Violet lenses met blue irises and she blinked. "Vhy didn't you tell me?" he asked softly.

Her jaw tightened. "It's still highly classified; how could I have? Why does it matter anyway?"

"It matters to me," he insisted. "Ve're friends; friends look out for each other. Just like vhen ve vere at the Academy. You helped me out so much more than you know."

"And you saved my math grades from the most epic nosedive into an 'F' that has ever been recorded in history," she countered. "All I did was bash a few skulls when people tried to bother you."

"You could have told me that you died! I vas the one that beamed you back up anyway, did you know that?"

Veron winced. No, she had not known that. "That must have been an ugly sight," she muttered, grimacing.

"Bozhe moy," he gasped. "I almost had a heart attack! I thought you were dead then, but then the Commander said otherwise and I nearly fainted on the spot!"

"Funny story about that," the android interjected. "First thing I found when I woke up in this body was my old body covered with a white sheet." She shrugged. "I guess Dad didn't think I'd wake up so soon."

Chekov was speechless, staring at her with wide blue eyes. "That's terrible," he said at last.

"Freakiest thing I've ever seen," she agreed.

"And then you disappeared for so long I thought you had actually died," he murmured, dropping his gaze to the floor.

Veron shrugged again. "I died and woke up in another body. I spent that time relearning how to move properly. I even tazed Dad when I was trying to learn how to walk again." She ducked and leaned forward a bit so that she had put herself in Chekov's line of vision. "I'm sorry I died and didn't tell you."

His hands found their way to her shoulders. He straightened up, she followed suit so that he was looking down directly into her eyes. "Nika," he said seriously. "I forgiwe you, but promise me that you'll tell me if you ewer get inwolwed with life-threatening situations again."

Veron chuckled as he tripped over his v's. "I promise, classified or not, I'll tell you. But if you tell anyone else, I'm authorized to vaporize you - just so you know."

Chekov nodded curtly, releasing her shoulders. "Tak," he muttered. "I can liwe with that."

"I'm kidding," she sighed. "I could never vaporize you; they'd have to shut me down first."

"You fooled me then," he said. "You looked like you vanted to kill someone earlier. My father always told me that jealous women are dangerous."

"Shut up, Pasha!" She groaned. "Get back to your post; I have better things to do anyway. Like stalk Kirsash so she doesn't go flirting with the entire male population of the Enterprise."

"So it's not me you were jealous for, then?" He asked, smirking mischievously. Veron would have turned beet red at his insinuation if she could. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she processed what he said. She threw her hands up in the air and stormed off once again, hearing and ignoring the ensign's laughter behind her.

* * *

*Ya tozhe - me too

*Bozhe moy - My God.

*Tak - okay


	5. Chapter 5

Kirsash clutched the PADD to her chest as she hurried down the corridors to her room. Her cheeks were burning, she felt as though she would cry from embarrassment and frustration and she had no idea what was causing it. She had just - most probably - condemned Chekov to death at the hands of an angry robot. In my defense, her strange, hormone driven side protested, I had no idea that one was marked as off limits. Kirsash shook her head violently, trying to clear the unwanted thoughts. For example, she didn't even like guys like Sulu, they weren't her type! But think of his rippling muscles as he fights - and wins. Hot. Kirsash halted completely at that thought. She turned promptly and began slamming her head into the wall in exasperation.

Get out of my head, you pervert, she growled internally. A shadow fell over her and she froze, headache pounding even fiercer from her ministrations. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a blue uniform stretched out over broad shoulders and a well-built torso. The first thing she thought was that the doctor followed her because he found a cure for her headache. If there is a God out there, please don't let it be McCoy, or anyone else I run into regularly-

"Ms. Solaris, are you in good health?"

Fuck. It was Spock. Her ears twitched, showing her agitation. She knew she was doomed with no hope of faking normalcy. Spock was cold, calculating and missed absolutely nothing.

"Uh, Good day Mr. Spock," she began nervously, trying desperately to keep her eyes on his face. "I was just-"

"I must inquire if you have been to see Dr. McCoy recently." He motioned to where she had been banging her head into the wall. "With all due respect, I do not believe that is normal, healthy behavior for any known species in this universe."

Kirsash's ears flattened as she stared at the Vulcan Commander, annoyed. She knew she was being mocked, however harmlessly. Her thoughts were straying once again to the impressive strength she knew to be hidden in his lean frame. He was impressively tall compared to humans and always composed. And who didn't enjoy a man with intellect? He obviously had a sense of humor as well. Kirsash inhaled imperceptibly and frowned. He smelled like another woman. Marked, that part of her said. Can't have him.

Spock was watching her closely. When she at last dragged her attention back to the conversation, he said, "I believe your heightened pheromones are due to a normal cyclic occurrence in Felixian females."

"Pheromones?" Kirsash echoed emptily. What was he going on about?

"Affirmative. Once every Felixian year - approximately 1.17 Terran years - Felixian females will exude more prominent and concentrated pheromones. This biological process occurs in time with the female's menstruation cycle in order to prepare her for mating and procreating."

This couldn't be happening. Spock was talking to her about mating and it was with dead seriousness. Kirsash wanted to die then and there.

"Ahem," she coughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. "I, uh, grew up on a deserted planet and therefore have had no access to this information."

Spock nodded. "I assumed as much. However it seems that the chemical similarity of your pheromones is similar to a human aphrodisiac and the strength of them is causing the majority of the male population of this ship to revert to base mating instincts."

Kirsash needed a moment to process all those words. She was getting a little irritated with his superior attitude, "So... What do I do about it? And how do you know all this."

"I simply read the PADDs provided to us by Starfleet on Felixians when you boarded the ship. It is best to know everything about one's crew. It would also be much safer for you and more productive for the crew if you were to spend the rest of this time in a holding cell, as this is the only on board structure that will prevent your pheromones from affecting the male Terrans."

A holding cell. A small confined space. She wouldn't... couldn't survive that for five minutes, much less the length of time it would take for her pheromones to return to their normal levels, however long that took. "I'm sorry, but no. We'll have to find something else."

"Ms. Solaris, I assure you, this is the best way to prevent any harm coming to your person or to anyone else in the crew." Spock's face didn't change while he was trying to convince Kirsash and it irritated her even more.

"Look, I think I'll just stay in my room."

Spock moved forward, making her feel like she was becoming trapped. She felt herself looking for exit strategies and found that the only way she could do it would be to duck immediately around him and walk away. She waited until Spock was close enough and then slipped past him. As she watched him turn, she glared at him in self-righteous anger.

"I am not to be trifled with. You may believe that you are the stronger of us two, but fury is on my side and I will not be forced to do anything. I will not be placed in a cage to be gawked at." During her speech, she felt her hair rising and her anger growing, to the point that she was shouting at the Commander. She couldn't control the rage building within her and it started to make her feel afraid deep inside. But her voice pressed on. "I will choose where I will stay and you will NOT BE ABLE TO CHANGE MY MIND. I AM A QUEEN!"

Her anger had risen to a peak but deflated immediately when she heard a familiar giggle behind her. She knew that her friend was there, but she did not want to look her in the eye at that moment. In front of her, Spock's expression had barely changed, but his hand had risen to his chin as he studied her. After a minute of Kirsash refusing to move and Spock watching her, he simple pronounced one word, "Fascinating."

That was all that was needed to start Veron's full-on giggling and Kirsash wanted to die from humiliation. She had just yelled at a superior and unknowingly admitted her inherited rank, which she had sworn to herself she would not do. This day simply could not get worse.

"Queen! That's a new one. I like it!" Veron was barely able to gasp in-between her laughter, but Kirsash ignored it. If Veron didn't believe that she was Queen, that would make things easier. She just hoped that Spock wouldn't say anything. She sagged her shoulders and resigned herself.

"I think it would be best if I went to the holding cell after all. Please, lead the way, Commander."

Instead of making a comment on what had occurred, Spock lead the small group to the lift that would bring them to the holding cell. Kirsash only hoped that things would go back to normal soon.

* * *

When Spock walked on deck after being sure that Kirsash was fairly comfortable and that Veron would behave in the holding cell with her. He was glad to find that everything seemed to be running smoothly. For once. He noticed that Kirk was not on the deck so relieved the con. from the helmsman. He crossed the deck to get to his station, stopping briefly to give a small Vulcan kiss to Nyota. Her small smile showed that she had received his motion of affection and was thankful for it. He was glad. Terrans were so variable in their emotions, he was never always sure if she was happy with him or not. He pulled his hand away and sat in the Captain's chair, watching the stars pass by and clearing his mind for a moment.

He allowed himself to relax slightly until he felt a squeeze on his arm. Only Nyota would feel comfortable enough to touch him, so he wasn't surprised to see her standing there. However, he was surprised to see her looking so anxious. He turned his body to face her, showing that she had his undivided attention.

"Commander, we have a ship that is trying to communicate with us."

"Do they wish to antagonize us?" Spock responded coolly. He hadn't seen anything that would indicate the latter in any of the nearby quadrants in any recent searches, but he could have been incorrect.

"It does not seem so. They seem to be sending us a message. It must be urgent since they are repeatedly sending it." Nyota's eyes were sharper at the possibility of danger being around them. She had incredible instincts, Spock thought to himself. He made himself focus on the task at hand.

"Call the Captain to the deck and set our shields on medium power." After placing the commands, Nyota gave a short nod and went back to her communication desk. Not five minutes after having called the Captain, he arrived on the lift but was surprisingly followed by Carol Marcus. She seemed to be trying to control a flush that had spread across her face. Kirk started off with a large grin when he entered the room, but sobered when he took the Captain's chair from Spock.

"What's the situation?"

"We have an approaching alien ship that is trying to send us a message." Spock informed. He would make a cordial remark about Dr. Marcus later.

"Origin of the ship?"

Nyota's voice came from her desk, but it was unsure, which Spock found odd, "I'm not sure, Captain. I have never heard a sound like this. It sounds Romulan but… wrong, somehow."

Spock went over to Nyota and silently asked for her earpiece. He tried to identify the ship, but found that he was unable to. It was a wholly unknown sound to him. "I conquer, Captain. We are dealing with a new species."

Kirk sat back in his chair, a small frown playing on his face. After a few seconds, he turned back to Nyota and ordered, "Play the message, but only to the bridge."

"Yes, Captain." Nyota turned back to the desk and pressed a few buttons. Then the message came on.

At first only static was heard throughout the deck, but eventually, an aggressive, roaring voice came on. No one, not even Nyota, was able to understand what was being said. There was only one word that was repeated multiple times that they could understand: "Kirsash." After a few minutes, the message finished and shut off.

Spock looked to Kirk, who seemed to be deep in thought. It wasn't until Carol lightly touched his shoulder that Kirk stirred. He looked to her first and then looked at Spock. He sat up straight, seeming to have come to a decision.

"Nyota, call McCoy and have him go to Kirsash's quarters. We'll join him there. I want to know what this is about and I think she might know."

"That would be counter-productive as Kirsash is currently in one of the holding cells."

"What?" Confusion lit the Captain's face, but he shook it in exasperation. "Never mind. Just have him meet us in the holding bay. Also, you have some explaining to do." Kirk looked pointedly at Spock.

"Aye, Captain." Spock replied in a monotone voice.

Kirk got up and led the way to the lift, followed by Spock and Carol, calling out to the helmsman that he had the con. Spock got ready to explain the situation with Kirsash as they had little time until they arrived in the lower levels to learn what that message was about.


	6. Chapter 6

Before Sulu left the medbay, McCoy was sure to have the derma-repair kit take as long as possible to heal the scratch so as to extend the pain of regrowing skin. Even that didn't seem to make him feel calmer, since it was a small scratch, so McCoy injected a hypo into Sulu just for fun. It had a vaccine that he was going to give to Sulu later on in the week anyway, but he still enjoyed Sulu jumping from the shock of getting a hypo on his mid-thigh.

Sulu did everything he could not to bolt of the medbay and McCoy snickered to himself at the helmsman's new-found fear of him. He turned back to get to work but stopped when he saw the pile of PADDs that were on one of the biobeds.

As he went over to the pile, he grumbbled to himself, "I'm a doctor, not a librarian. If people were more..." He would have continued, but he stopped when he noticed that the top PADD was a brief history of relations between Felixians and Starfleet. He looked through the rest of the PADDs, realizing that this must have been what Kirsash had been looking at before she went to go talk to Sulu. Flirt is more like it, he thought bitterly.

There were only 3 PADDs in the pile, each of them about Felixians. Just going over the page that Kirsash had been reading made it obvious that Starfleet knew little about her species. One of the PADDs was entirely made up of observations that he and Spock had made during the early months of Kirsash's stay on the Enterprise. She had been very shy at the time, barely speaking to any of the crew and refused to wear anything but her long robes that covered her entire body. She must have been overly warm with those robes and fur, but she seemed to have found her pleasure in making her room cold enough for it to feel like winter whenever he had entered it.

The first to befriend her had been Veron of all people and their friendship had opened her up slowly to the rest of the crew, gaining their trust and eventually joining the crew, leaving behind her ridiculously long robes to the slightly more revealing Starfleet uniforms. If he was going to be honest with himself, McCoy had never been more thankful to Starfleet until that moment he had first seen Kirsash in her uniform.

Because of the close relation to Veron, Kirsash had been the first officer, other than Kirk and Spock, to learn about Veron's changes and had been there to help her get adjusted to her body during that initial month. They wouldn't have been able to hide it from her anyway because her senses were so advanced that she would have noticed the first time she would have met Veron again.

McCoy shook his head to try to get rid of his rambling thoughts. He was spending far too much time thinking about her lately. He needed to focus on finding out what was causing her headache. He went over to the monitor again, grabbing the PADDs while he did to free some space. When she had described her symptoms, it had sounded like she just needed more sugar in her system, but after having run a scan over her, none of the results made any sense. Her vital signs were reading normal but her hormones were completely off the charts.

Just as McCoy was getting ready to stare at the hormone levels for a while, Nurse Chapel tapped him on the shoulder and broke his concentration.

"Stare any longer at that screen, Doctor, and you will break your back," she noted in a strict tone.

"Not medically possible, Chapel." He replied with a smirk until he turned to face her. His smirk turned into a grin when he noticed the tray of sandwiches and coffee that she was holding. He gratefully took it from her and placed it on a empty section of the desk, giving Christine a chance to look at the results on the monitor.

Christine took the hint and bent forward to get a better look of the screen. McCoy ate in silence for a minutes while Christine looked at the results. She slowly seemed to be trying to hide an expression the longer she looked at the screen. Finally, she stood again and looked at him with what could only be controlled humor. "What have you been staring at this for. She's perfectly healthy."

McCoy sighed and placed his sandwich back on the plate. "I'm aware of that, Nurse Chapel, but Kirsash's hormones are so abnormal, I thought I should take a second look."

At the mention of the results, Chapel almost smiled, which frustrated McCoy. She usually was so controlled that he couldn't understand the humor in the situation. She simply responded with, "They're not odd."

McCoy crossed his arms in from of his chest, waiting for her to continue.

Christine seemed very pleased with herself when she explained, "If her body, or at least her internal organs are anything like a human's, then her hormones levels show that she is ovulating."

McCoy could do nothing but stare at Christine for a minute; It was as if his brain and body had disconnected since his thoughts couldn't stop and his body couldn't move. The only thing that changed was his face, where a bright red flush was growing. He tried to ignore the heat in his cheeks and coughed before asking, "Are you sure?"

Christine seemed insulted at first but then simple extended a gentle smile that didn't reach her eyes, "I know my field, Doctor. With the level her hormones are at currently, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone drools over her during the next few days."

With that, she took the tray from McCoy as he stared at the screen to his right. So many emotions and thoughts were running through his mind that he couldn't move. He was embarrassed that he hadn't thought that hormones were the cause; worried about Kirsash's safety, especially with the crew; reassured about what he had witnessed happen between Sulu and her in the medbay earlier; but most of all, he was confused. Were his recent thoughts about Kirsash simply due to her hormones affecting his mind or… was it more than that?

The beeping of the communicator on the wall jarred him from his thoughts. Would people stop doing that? he thought as he got up to press the button to open the channel, "McCoy here."

Nyota's terse response came back immediately, "McCoy, report to the holding bay immediately. Captain's orders."

McCoy scrunched his face in confusion but shrugged slightly to himself. "Tell him I'll be right there."

* * *

author: I can only promise that next chapter will be really good to compensate for this very short chapter. Hope you are enjoying the story so far. Please leave reviews; it always helps to know if this is any good :3


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